


Coffee and Tea

by rangerofdiscord



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: F/F, F/M, Implied Kimdoyle, Implied Yorkalina, Kimballina
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-05
Updated: 2016-01-05
Packaged: 2018-05-11 22:27:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5644102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rangerofdiscord/pseuds/rangerofdiscord
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kimball always loved tea, it was her favorite drink. After Doyle's death, she finds herself unable to drink anything but coffee.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Coffee and Tea

Coffee had always been a rare treat to the people of Chorus. It was expensive to make, and after UNSC ships stopped bringing in aid only very few people cultivated it. Vanessa's parents had never been able to afford it, so she stuck to tea her whole life and she loved tea. Green tea, black tea, herbal tea, tea that tasted like watermelon and tasted good ice cold in the summer  
.   
When she was a leader, Kimball made sure to always have tea with her. It helped, giving her the caffeine boost she needed to get through the long nights and reminded her of home. Of simpler, more peaceful times. A sip of green tea would take her back to nights with her mother, playing old Earth games while a fire crackled as they waited for her father. Watermelon lavender tea would remind her of her first love, of kissing by the river in the hot, humid summer. 

The only thing Kimball and Doyle had in common was their love of tea. Both loved green tea for long nights, and black tea when they woke up. Herbal teas were for when they were sick. Despite hating him, thinking him a coward, Kimball couldn't help but eavesdrop on his conversations with friends over tea and agreeing with him. 

When Doyle died, suddenly Kimball couldn't drink tea anymore. Just the smell made her sick to her stomach, overwhelmed her with a sudden, strong, numbing depression. Each time she tried to sip tea, her favorite teas, she ended up coughing it up, unable to swallow it. 

But there were still long nights ahead of her, nights she needed to be able to stay up. So she turned to coffee, downing the vile black liquid before going back to sketches of the new Armonia. 

One night she was making herself another pot, glaring in disgust at the way it smelled when someone walked into the makeshift kitchen with her. She barely glanced at them as they made their way past her, moving to the hot kettle in the corner of the room Wash had set up. In a few minutes, Kimball could smell the cool aroma of peppermint tea trying to overtake the bitter coffee smell, and looked up to see who was there.

Carolina was leaning against the counter, staring down at her broken, chipped mug. She was out of her armor, which was a rare sight. Instead of the normal heavy, cyan armor and kevlar suit she stood in a white tank and cargo pants, swirling the tea with a finger. Not sure of what to say, Kimball looked back down at her coffee pot, waiting for it to finish dripping.

When it finally did, she sighed and poured it into another chipped mug. Everything was broken around here. The machines, the dishes, the people... 

“You drink it black?” A smooth, deep voice cut through her inner monologue and Kimball looked up, surprised. 

“Am I not supposed to?” Honestly she had no idea how one drunk coffee, she just knew it was better than tea. 

A very rare smile crossed Carolina's rough lips, amusement sparkling in her green eyes. “Well, you can. But if you want..” She leaned down, brushing past Kimball to open the mini fridge and pull out cream. “There's always cream and sugar.” 

“Oh.” Kimball looked down at it. “Like with tea.” 

“Exactly.” Carolina was already pouring some cream and adding sugar to her tea. Kimball watched her, before repeating the process with her coffee. As she worked, something came to mind and she turned to Carolina. 

“Wash drinks coffee.”

“That he does. Much more than he should. It's why he's so short.” 

Ignoring the last comment, Kimball pushed on. “So do Tucker and Sarge and Grif and Simmons and Doc and Donut and--” She could go on and on but Carolina held up her hand. 

“What's your point?” 

“Why don't you drink coffee? You always drink tea. Every morning, every night. Not coffee.” 

“Is it enough to say I dislike the taste?” Carolina continued to smile, although now it was a bit nervous as she played with the locket on her breastbone. 

“I-- I suppose so.” 

“Let me ask you this. How come you don't drink tea anymore?” 

Kimball looked flustered, staring up at her a bit nervously. “E-Excuse me?” 

“When we first met you had a cup of tea in the morning and one with lunch and one with dinner and one if you had to stay up at night. Now you drink coffee. Why?” 

Blushing, Kimball looked down, unable to explain with words why tea disgusted her so much, why she couldn't stand the taste or scent of it anymore it just reminded her of him so much. 

And then Kimball realized why Carolina never drank coffee. 

When she looked back over, she could see that Carolina knew she understood and smiled gently at her. “Try and get a good nights sleep, when you can.” Carolina said, pushing off against the counter she was leaning on and rubbing Kimball's shoulder. The other woman nodded, looking down at her creamy coffee. Before she left however, Kimball looked up and called out, 

“Carolina?” 

“Hm?” Turning, the redhead looked back at Kimball. 

“If you want, I still have a bunch of fancy tea... If you'd like to go through it one night.” She stumbled, unsure of why she was so nervous, but Carolina just smiled at her, so warm and genuine it filled Kimball with that warmth. 

“I'd like that, thank you. Goodnight Vanessa.”


End file.
